Harry Potter - Vampire Hunter
by FalcoSubbuteo
Summary: Harry, master of death, is working as an unspeakable to hide the fact that he isn't ageing. One day he accidentally takes a trip through the veil of death, and lands in a very different London. Searching for any signs of magic or supernatural events he can find, he finds his way to Hellsing and joins them in order to protect the innocent.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I neither hold nor claim any rights to either Harry Potter or Hellsing. Credit for both goes to their respective authors. This is a work of fan fiction only.

Prologue

Harry Potter, the saviour of the wizarding world, turned up for work as usual, his features masked by the obscuring charm on the hood of the navy blue trench coat that was the standard uniform of the Unspeakables. As he passed through the various chambers of the Department of Mysteries some of his colleagues greeted him by his codename, which was all anyone knew of him, since the operatives real names were never recorded. There were no contracts, no signed oaths of secrecy, if you were accepted it was by word and your first task was to obliviate your interviewer of your own identity.

All in all, it was an ideal environment for a man who was over 40 years old but still didn't look a day over 18. Harry knew that to show his face in public would invite media attention at the very least, and a host of challengers for the power of the elder wand at worst. Not that anyone would be able to take the wand from him, since it had been absorbed into his body when he held all three hallows shortly after the battle of Hogwarts.

Walking into his assigned work area, the death chamber, he thought once more about how ironic it was that he would be working here of all places. The veil spoke to him in its usual whisper, a greeting to an old friend, and he thought he could hear the voices of loved ones long since lost.

He was still lost in contemplation when one of his colleagues gave him a heavy handed pat on the shoulder, and he tripped forward right through the veil, which glowed a bright red for a minute and then subsided. The shocked unspeakable who had greeted him reported the incident immediately, and a small plaque was added to the wall of lost operatives. That was all anyone in the Department ever got. It was simply safer if no-one knew anyone beyond their work.

Harry fell to his knees on a cold, dirty wooden floor in a poorly lit room. He was aware of what had happened and was rather surprised that he wasn't dead. 'Well, then again...' he thought to himself as he concentrated for a second, causing a ball of light to rise from his hand clearly illuminating the dingy cellar he had found himself in.

Clearing his mind, aware that there might be differences in the reality he had apparently landed in, he allowed his senses to spread out, looking for familiar touches of magic, to find nothing. Oh there were some hints of old magic, in particular a lot of blood magic, but nothing to indicate a thriving community of wizards and witches.

The only thing out of place that he did sense was something very familiar. 'Vampire' he thought as he searched for a way out of the cellar.

Alucard casually strolled out of the door of the building he had cornered the latest target in, his .454 Cassull still smoking slightly. He watched as the fleeing vampire charged towards the pair of Hellsing personnel standing guard over his master, the young Integra Hellsing. The two guards raised their weapons to fire, as did Alucard, as the freak vampire charged towards them, fangs bared and ready to strike, when two things suddenly happened. Firstly, a man appeared behind the vampire, a long bladed Katana already drawn and reaching the tail end of its swing. Secondly, the vampire's head lolled sideways from its body and fell, cut cleanly from the neck. The body and head turned to ash a moment later and the three armed Hellsing personnel trained their weapons on the newcomer.

"Sorry about that" said the figure in the trench coat, inwardly chuckling that he had introduced himself with the same words as Hagrid, almost thirty years previously. "Cut it a little fine...". He straightened, flicking his sword to clear the drops of blood from the blade, before sheathing it inside his coat, although there was no visible scabbard and the sword didn't appear to actually affect the flowing drop of the coat.

Alucard examined the figure for a moment, before raising his head, a chuckle bursting from deep within him, quickly growing to a deep rolling laugh. "A human taking on a vampire by hand, and so very neatly too. I love it!" he roared. The newcomer turned to face him, and then back to the obvious leader.

"Is he with you? Because if he's bothering you I'd be happy to help."

This time it was Integra who laughed, a cold mirthless laugh. "I would like to see you try. But yes, he is with me, and I would appreciate it if you did not give him cause to coat the street with your remains." She folded her arms and looked critically at the newcomer. "Now show yourself and explain who you are and what you are doing here." she ordered.

Harry shrugged, reaching up and pulling his hood down, showing his youthful face. "My apologies. I sensed the two vampires and had intended to take them both out. My name is Harry Potter and I came here to protect whoever the vampires were after. It seems that I might not have been needed. As for killing me, I would be highly amused if your pet over there is in fact capable of killing me."

Alucard snarled gleefully, a wicked smile spreading across his face as he raised his gun, aiming at the newcomer. "Come on then boy! If you think you can take me!"

"Alucard!" shouted Integra, "Stand down! We do not kill humans unless necessary." Turning to Harry she continued "I would be very interested to know how you arrived here, I'm quite sure that you weren't there one second and were the next."

Standing up straighter, out of his ready posture, Harry bowed slightly to Integra "That, my lady, is rather a long story. May I suggest we continue this discussion somewhere less public?"

Integra looked at him for a minute, before nodding and turning to walk back to her car. Harry caught up and walked alongside her whilst Alucard took up a guard position behind and between them. After a short journey to the Hellsing estate, Harry found himself sitting across from Integra at her desk, Alucard the only other presence in the room, and giving her a rough description of his arrival and the events leading to his interference in Alucard's hunt.

"So yes, I sensed two vampires and assumed they were hunting, so I decided to intervene before anyone could be harmed."

"And how precisely did you do that? I'm quite certain that humans cannot teleport, or become invisible."

Harry grinned. This was the part he'd been looking forward to. Explaining magic to a muggle and vampire with no statute of secrecy. "Simple my lady, magic."

Nothing could be heard for a few moments until, growing slowly until it filled the mansion, the sound of a vampire laughing hysterically rang out.

Author's Note: This is the prologue to an idea I've been writing for a while. This is the first fic I've got to a point where I'm happy that I can publish it and have enough material to finish it. It will be rated M just in case, since Hellsing is such a violent genre, and there may be some minor adult sequences. The chapter structure will broadly follow events from the Hellsing (Ultimate) anime, so Millenium not Incognito, but each chapter will probably be a subset of an episode.

I'm genuinely interested to know what people think, so please leave reviews. Having said that, I won't appreciate flames but I am more than happy to take on constructive criticism.

The prologue has a few humorous elements and I intend to maintain a little humor in keeping with the Hellsing anime, but for the most part it will be fairly serious.


	2. Chapter 1 - Seras Victoria

Disclaimer: I neither hold nor claim any rights to either Harry Potter or Hellsing. Credit for both goes to their respective authors. This is a work of fan fiction only.

Chapter 1 – Seras Victoria

"Sectumsempra!" shouted Harry as he gestured casually to the group of ghouls advancing from his left, simultaneously firing a heavily modified G36C carbine at the group on his right. Seconds later, ten ghouls were in pieces on the floor and another 5 were riddled with bullet holes.

Keying the push to talk button of his tactical radio, he spoke into the mic hanging to the right of his head. "Bath Street clear as far as Church Street. Proceeding to the church now. Request sitrep. Over"

After a moment, the radio buzzed to life. "Received Bath St clear to Church St. Asset 1 is at the church. Target last known position same. Over."

"Understood" Harry replied. "On my way there now. Out".

As he jogged towards the church, his trench coat rendering him both invisible and silent, he heard a cacophony of automatic gunfire from up ahead. Grinning to himself, he looked up as the moon seemed to turn red. "Having fun old man?" he vocalised clearly, to be answered by the haunting, echoing laughter as Alucard regenerated his body and destroyed the small army of ghouls guarding the vampire in the church.

Harry approached the door of the church and looked around it, just in time to see Alucard aiming at the vampire who was holding a red haired policewoman hostage. As Harry prepared to intervene, Alucard took the shot, and Harry watched in horror as the large round passed cleanly through the policewoman, killing the vampire behind her.

Running over to the woman's side, he arrived there at the same time as Alucard. "This is beyond my skill to heal old man" he said, glaring slightly at the vampire. "I could have saved her if you'd waited."

"The vampire was going to turn her. There was no time. And she is still a virgin."

Harry's eyes widened, and he stared at Alucard. "You planned to turn her yourself then." he said matter-of-factly. Receiving a nod in reply, he stepped back as Alucard offered the dying woman the choice between peaceful death and eternal life. He was about to close his eyes and look away when the woman's blue eyes met his, and he could see the desire to live in them. Nodding at her he said simply "Quicker than falling asleep." and turned to walk away as Alucard leaned down over her.

"Hellsing's going to be pissed you know" Harry said as he walked alongside Alucard, who was carrying the newly birthed Draculina, back towards the armoured car which had carried them to Cheddar that afternoon.

"She'll live." Alucard shrugged uncaringly. "The decision was hers to make." He looked down at the girl in his arms as she looked up.

"Master" she said simply, looking into his eyes for a moment before turning her head to look at Harry. Their eyes met and locked for a moment before Harry turned his attention back to the path they were walking along. "Your funeral" he muttered darkly, eliciting a chuckle from the ancient vampire at his side.

Integra held her tongue until they returned to the manor, and the new recruit was safely tucked away in a coffin in the basement.

"You were sent in to that village to destroy a vampire, not create one!" she raged. "And you!" she turned her ire on Harry "What the hell were you doing while he was birthing a new vampire?"

"I got held up and arrived as the vampire was holding her hostage. Alucard took the shot before I could intervene. He says the vamp was going to bite her and he was on the scene for longer than me. He made the call ma'am and the girl made the choice." Harry replied calmly. Integra didn't scare him and she knew it, but both he and Alucard respected their commander and allowed her to blow off steam at them.

Taking a deep breath, she walked behind her desk and sat down, lighting a cigar and taking a long drag from it before exhaling. "Fine. Alucard's call. But you're both going to have to train her. We have no idea what a spawn of him" she gestured to Alucard "could turn into. I need to know what she can do and if she can be of use to us."

Harry nodded as Alucard faded into a shadow. "I'll keep an eye on her. She was turned with little time to adjust, it's going to be hard for her to get used to her unlife."

Integra sighed, calmer now that Alucard, the source of her frustration, was gone. "I know. Help her adjust Harry. She could be a useful asset if she can fit in. How did the G36 work out by the way? If it works I'd like to issue them to all of the men."

"More than adequate. With my modifications it's easier to control than a pistol, even on fully automatic fire, and I'm pretty sure the barrel will melt before I can run out of ammo. I'll start modifying some more for the troops." And with that he turned and left. Heading down the stairs to the basement, he sighed, he still couldn't understand why Alucard had turned the girl. Despite what he'd said to Integra he was fairly certain that he could have saved the girl in time. Strange that Alucard waited for just that moment to take his shot.

As he walked, a pair of blue eyes overlaid with red flashed across his mind, and he chuckled. "At least he picked an attractive one. I can just imagine Millicent Bullstrode as a Draculina", and with that he shuddered and picked up the pace.

Not bothering to knock, since he could sense that Alucard was already in the room, he opened the door to the new Draculina's room and walked in, stopping a moment later as his eyes widened at the sight of the girl examining her chest for signs of the bullet wound which had killed her. He couldn't help it as his eyes took in the sight of her ample bosom and toned, flat stomach, before he turned away and cleared his throat. "I'm terribly sorry. I could tell Alucard was in here and assumed you were still asleep, or at least decent."

"Oh I'm sorry. I was just so surprised I couldn't see any sign of the wound. So... it wasn't all a dream then was it? Those things were real. I, I..." she trailed off.

Harry turned to face her again, keeping his eyes up this time and looking into her wide, tear-filled eyes, which had returned to the blue they had been when he first saw her. "Yes" he said softly. "I'm so sorry." He wasn't prepared for the girl to fling herself into him, crushing her face to his chest and sobbing uncontrollably. He rubbed small circles in the small of her back, saying nothing but offering what support he could.

Slowly she settled, her tears reducing gradually to sniffles, before she disengaged herself from him, blushing as she backed away. "I.. I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to..." she was cut off by the characteristic chuckle of Alucard as he manifested in the shadows of her room.

"Police girl, you really don't have to throw yourself at Harry over there, but if he's the kind to take your fancy go right ahead. Just don't bite him without his permission, he tends to get a bit tetchy when that happens."

She blushed again, and Harry took pity on her. "Ignore him. He's got a simple sense of humour. It's nice to meet you. I'm Harry." and he held held out his hand. As she took it he raised it to his lips and brushed his lips to the back of her hand, smiling up at her as her cheeks burned. "I'm truly sorry for the circumstances which brought you to us but I hope we can help you to adjust".

She stammered out her thanks, before heading back over to her bed and sitting on it. "Umm, I'm Seras. It's nice to meet you Harry. So... vampires... and now I am one... I take it you are too? What do you do here?"

Beating Alucard to the punch, Harry replied. "Yes you are a vampire. Alucard here is also, obviously. I however am not, although I am not a normal human either. As for what we do, we hunt vampires, ghouls, werewolves, all the monsters that go bump in the night. And so will you. As I said I hope we can help you to adjust to your new life but I promise to make it as easy as possible for you. Why don't you try to get some rest and we'll show you around and get you set up in the morning."

She nodded, and Harry gave Alucard a look before turning and leaving the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Author's Note: First chapter. Just to let you all know, I'm going to be following the anime fairly closely. There will be differences of course but the overall events will still occur as expected. What I will be doing is working on the relationship between Harry and Seras, and how other characters see it, in particular Integra and Alucard.

Harry isn't using much magic. In the four chapters I've penned he casts two spells, one of which is in this chapter. To be honest, the range of most magic makes it less useful against vampires (who are superhumanly fast) than guns. As such, Harry will be using combat spells mainly against ghouls, and otherwise using the less direct spells (legilimency for example). What he is using is a lot of rune modifications to weapons, and the abilities of his Unspeakable-wear. He's forty, not four hundred. His knowledge of magic is good but he still has less actual experience than even Tom Riddle had, so he's not a god. He is however the master of death, and that gives him certain perks.

Anyway, reviews welcome! I'm happier with this chapter than I was with the prologue, and I think it'll get better as we get into the Hellsing storyline.


	3. Chapter 2 - First Kill

Disclaimer: I neither hold nor claim any rights to either Harry Potter or Hellsing. Credit for both goes to their respective authors. This is a work of fan fiction only.

Chapter 2 – First Kill

The next morning, Harry collected Seras and showed her around her new home, emphasizing the security between each floor. He then introduced her to some of the Hellsing operatives and took her to the shooting range, where he handed her a rifle over half as tall as she was. Seeing the look of disbelief on her face he laughed. "Don't worry, we can get something bigger if this doesn't do the job. It'll do for now though. Say hello to the Hellsing Arms 13.7mm rifle. Designed to take down anything we might encounter, including vampires, cars, aircraft, light armoured vehicles, you get the idea. Don't worry about the weight, it won't bother you at all I'm sure."

Expecting the weapon to be too heavy for her, she swung it up and almost fell over at how light it felt. Walking over to one of the firing points she loaded the weapon and aimed at a target at the other end of the range. Taking careful aim, she fired three rounds into the target's torso before putting down the rifle and staring at it. "It's so light" she said, as Harry summoned her target. Examining the target board he commented, "hmm, not too shabby. Nice hits on a human, but remember we're fighting monsters here. Aim for the heart or the head only. I prefer the head personally since most things can't survive decapitation, but as long as you take the targets down it doesn't really matter. Alucard likes to draw things out so he aims to wound."

She was somewhat taken aback by how blasé he sounded, and he looked sidelong at her as if reading her thoughts. "The things we're hunting aren't human any more Seras" he said. "I'd always take mercy on a human being, a quick kill, no pain, and I'd hate myself for it afterward. But a monster can only be put down like a rabid dog, and that sometimes means we make a mess. I know it's hard, it would be easier if you were a soldier before rather than a police officer, but this is the way it is. Like I said it's up to you how you aim, but if you want it to be quick and painless, go for the head or the heart."

She nodded, taking in what he said. "I'm not human any more am I. Does that make me a monster too?"

He looked sad, "You're not human, but that doesn't make you a monster. You are defined by your choices. Your master serves humans and protects them, albeit in his own way. We all do the same thing, and sometimes people think we are monsters for what we do, but we do it anyway, because it's the right thing to do."

Leading her away from the firing range, he showed her the armoury and the grounds, pointing out checkpoints and surveillance systems as they went. Neither of them were aware of the scrutiny they were being held under from an upstairs window.

"He seems to have taken a shine to her." Integra Hellsing commented.

"Inevitable. He is an immortal. Such beings cannot form attachments to mortals, not truly." Alucard replied from his spot next to her. "She is attached to him. It started before I even turned her."

Integra turned to face her pet vampire, shock and realisation on her face. "You did it for him?"

Alucard laughed. "You humans, you have to complicate matters. No, I did it because I had to and because it was fun. I am a monster, I have no ulterior motives. I leave that to you humans. I have to say though it is amusing to see an immortal human and a vampire together like that. What fun they will be together. I wonder if he will allow her to drink from him."

Integra examined the vampire for a minute, before nodding and turning her gaze back to the grounds. She was about to speak when the telephone on her desk rang. Answering it with a sigh she listened briefly before hanging up and turning to Alucard. "Someone has been killing entire families and defiling the bodies. At least one vampire, possibly two since they've recovered two different types of casings from the crime scenes. Take the girl and deal with them. Walter will organise the transport and will have the mission details."

"Shall I take the wizard?"

Integra thought about it for a moment before responding. "No. I don't want her totally reliant on him, better she learns to walk on her own before we let them start working together. You shouldn't have any trouble with this but it'll be her first time so make sure she can do the job. If she can't you'll have to lose your new pet."

"I understand, my master." Alucard bowed his head and backed away into the shadows.

Five minutes later Harry was showing Seras to the helipad. An AgustaWestland A109E helicopter was sat on the pad, rotors already turning, and Alucard was visible relaxing in the back sitting opposite Walter. A pair of Hellsing sniper teams were boarding as they approached. Before they reached the aircraft, Harry handed Seras the rifle she had been using at the range, and two five round magazines. "You can do this." he shouted over the roar of the helicopter's twin engines "Just remember, they aren't human and you're doing this because it's the right thing."

She nodded, and gave him a small smile, before turning and jogging the last few meters to the aircraft and hopping into the free seat, the door sliding closed behind her as the aircraft lifted off and headed North, rapidly gaining speed and altitude. As he watched, Harry couldn't help but wonder if she was ready for what she was about to do.

Turning away, he made his way back to the armoury where he started to engrave runes on a batch of G36C carbines and magazines.

In the back of the A109E, Seras turned her attention to the immaculately dressed butler and listened as he briefed the operatives on what they knew. As she looked at the photographs which had been faxed to Hellsing she remembered Harry's words to her and muttered to herself "They aren't human".

"Police girl". Alucard's deep voice broke her concentration and she looked at her master. "Destroying scum like this should be a pleasure. When you see them don't hesitate, just kill them. You'll be doing them and all of their victims a service." She hesitated for a moment and then nodded her understanding. Closing her eyes and leaning back into the padded seat of the helicopter, she started to hum a tune that had always calmed her before an operation.

Two hours later, laying on the roof of a house and aiming at the vampire running away from her, she remembered Harry's and Alucard's words and pulled the trigger without any hesitation whatsoever. As she applied the pressure to the trigger the world seemed to slow down, and she could perceive everything around her in intense detail. She sensed the detonation of the cap of the chambered round in her rifle, the immediate expansion and explosion of the propellant. She could feel the rifle vibrate as the projectile was spun by the rifling of the barrel, and the slight jerk as it exited the muzzle. She didn't need to look to know that the shot was perfect, Alucard had told her to use her third eye and it guaranteed the hit. No more than two seconds later the fleeing vampire fell to the ground and immediately turned to ash, her remains scattering on the winds.

Harry sat opposite Integra, listening in on the report coming in from Walter in the helicopter. "Both targets eliminated. Target 1 taken down by Alucard, target 2 by Seras Victoria". Integra looked Harry in the eye for a moment before nodding and looking at the telephone. "Welcome to Hellsing, Seras Victoria" she said quietly, and Harry's satisfied smirk matched her sentiment exactly.

Author's Note: I'm so glad that people seem to like this story so far. Thank you so much to those who have reviewed, and I hope I continue to provide a fun read.

A couple of notes on the story. One of my reviewers commented that they were glad the characters weren't too OOC. It's my intent to keep the characters as IC as possible. This will certainly be the case with Integra and Alucard. Harry will continue to act as I've had him act so far, but you will see both softer and harder sides of him as the story progresses. The main difference will be Seras. Her strength in Hellsing is that she retains her humanity for so long, and I will be keeping that part, but she will be a lot more confident in herself as her development will be supported.

I'm posting roughly three chapters behind, and self-reviewing each chapter before it goes out, so I've had time to forget what I've written and read it as a reader, so hopefully the flow and the writing style is consistent and easy to read, but feel free to review or message if you have any suggestions.


	4. Chapter 3 - The Paladin

Disclaimer: I neither hold nor claim any rights to either Harry Potter or Hellsing. Credit for both goes to their respective authors. This is a work of fan fiction only.

Chapter 3 – The Paladin

"Target is moving around on the second floor, East wing" came the report over the radio from the spotters situated in the surrounding buildings.

Seras toggled her transmit key twice to signal that she'd received and understood. The two soldiers next to her had their weapons raised and aiming along the corridor with her, blocking the only way out for the ghouls on this level. Somewhere around here her master was hunting the loose vampire. Her job was to suppress the ghouls and stop them escaping into the surrounding area.

At the Hellsing manor, Harry was chafing at being held back from another mission. Integra had explained why she wanted Seras to build up some experience operating with the other Hellsing operatives and Alucard, and had pointed out that they hardly needed him there as well to deal with one lone, young vampire.

The intercom buzzed, and Integra keyed the speaker button. "Yes?"

Walter's cultured tones answered immediately "We've just received a report that the Vatican has sent an agent of their own, since they don't recognize Northern Ireland as a part of the United Kingdom."

Integra's head dropped to her palm and she sighed in frustration. "Those fools. It's like they're trying to start a war. Who did they send?"

"One of their men from section thirteen. The paladin, Alexander Anderson."

Her face turned white. "Dear God. We have to stop him before he gets involved, let alone before Alucard finds him, they could destroy the entire hospital."

Harry looked at her. "I take it ma'am that the mission parameters have changed and would now benefit from my presence?" The unspoken "I told you so" was clear.

Ignoring the implied insubordination she ordered him. "Get over there and keep Anderson from killing any of my men. That man is a loose cannon,and one of their best vampire hunters. The last thing I need is Iscariot killing my men."

Harry stood and gave a rare salute, before summoning his modified G36C. A thigh holster, attached to his trench coat with a sticking charm, cradled the bulk of a Desert Eagle, similarly modified. He nodded once more to Integra before turning on the spot and vanishing in a puff of displaced air.

Arriving outside the hospital, he quickly located Seras' team and the other Hellsing personnel in the vicinity, before concentrating on spreading his senses to encompass the immediate area. He picked out the ghouls quickly, and noticed the distinctive signs of Alucard, but he couldn't find the remaining vampire. He did however sense a third, unknown, human approaching Seras' team from behind and, swearing, he apparated directly to them after activating the disillusionment charm on his coat.

As he arrived, he immediately swung his rifle around, deflecting the three foot-long bayonets which were already in the air heading for Seras and her two operatives. The bayonets clashed into the walls, throwing sparks in all directions as their intended victims all spun to face the new threat.

Seras gasped at the large figure in white and grey, easily as imposing as her master, that was standing silhouetted by the light from a window behind him, the bayonets in his hands glinting an icy blue. As he raised his hands to throw them, blinding flashes of gunfire erupted from the air between them, and the newcomer was thrown backwards by the impacts. The distinctive sound as the weapon cycled identified it as a G36, and as the gunfire continued a familiar blue coated form faded into view, holding the weapon.

"Harry!" she cried out in relief.

Ignoring her, Harry kept his attention on his target, who appeared to be dead on the floor by the window. 'Good thing I'm a paranoid bastard, or I'd think he was actually dead. Probably would have caught Alucard out whilst he was immersed in his own monologue...' he thought to himself before speaking calmly. "Alexander Anderson, paladin of Vatican section thirteen, the Iscariot organisation. You are trespassing on lands owned by her majesty, Queen Elizabeth the second of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. You will cease these criminal actions and return to the Vatican immediately, or I will remove you by force."

"Sir" said one of the soldiers next to Seras. "I think you already used force... and I don't think he's in a position to argue any..." the man was interrupted by the slow laughter of the recently gunned-down priest, who struggled upright before standing up.

"Nice try boy" he spat at Harry, "but it'll take more than a few bullets to stop me. Drop your weapons and I'll make your journey to hell quick and painless." he said as he flicked his wrists, yet more bayonets finding their way into his hands from the sleeves of his coat. Without further ado he swung his hands down and launched the bayonets straight at Harry.

Throughout the speech Harry had prepared himself, and had allowed his G36 to fall to his side on its sling. He drew his Desert Eagle, hoping the larger rounds would be more effective. Ready for the attack he immediately disapparated, reappearing directly behind the paladin and firing a shot into the back of his head, sending him crashing to the floor again.

Looking down at the corpse, he commented idly "You know, that regeneration is really impressive. Has anyone actually ever figured out what it would take to kill you?" He jumped backwards as the paladin rose to his feet and took a vicious swing backward with a bayonet. "Clearly bullets aren't going to do the job, but I find decapitation works for most things" Harry continued as he threw the pistol to one side and drew his katana from the pocket of his coat.

Anderson's eyes widened as he saw the sword apparently materialize from nowhere, "Well aren't you full of surprises boy." and the two were off.

Seras tried to keep up with the fight but the two swordsmen were moving too fast, their weapons clashing together repeatedly as they attempted to eviscerate each other. She raised her rifle and watched with her third eye, waiting for the moment to take a shot, but they were too close together and she could never be sure of not hitting Harry.

"Fun, isn't it, Police Girl", came her master's voice from behind her. She turned to face him incredulously.

"Why aren't you in there?! He's trying to kill Harry!"

Alucard laughed and smirked. "He'll not have much luck with that. I'm finding this clash of the titans to be quite amusing, and I don't think I need to get involved."

Suddenly there was a sickening noise, unmistakably the sound of a blade penetrating human flesh, and Seras spun back and gasped as she saw Harry fall to the floor with a bayonet protruding from his chest.

Anderson turned to face the vampires, a sick grin on his face. "Well he wasn't bad I suppose, but I expect more from you, vampire."

He started to move toward them taking slow, threatening, steps, when he stopped and grunted, and a second later the point of a katana emerged from his chest. Harry's mop of black hair rose from behind him and moved close to his ear. "Aww, did you miss me?" he said tauntingly, as he jerked the katana sideways opening a massive wound in the paladin's back as he slid the sword back out.

Anderson grunted in pain, and staggered to the wall, before shooting a look of pure hatred at Harry. "You haven't heard the last of this, boy. I'll be back soon to deal with you and your little vampire friends." and with that he was surrounded by hundreds of parchments swirling in a non existent wind. When the wind subsided and the parchments fell to the floor he was gone..

Harry's shoulders dropped then, and he reached up and pulled the bayonet from his chest slowly, before throwing it to one side. "Watch out for those you two" he said looking at Alucard and Seras, "definitely blessed blades, I suspect they'd be a lot more trouble for you to deal with."

Seras shot forward and immediately positioned her shoulder under his, helping to bear his weight as he sagged down towards her. "Harry! How did you survive that?" she demanded.

He chuckled, wincing at the movement, and allowed her to take more of his weight. "I'm pretty hard to kill Seras. Don't get me wrong though, that really hurt. I'm just glad I got here in time to stop him from killing any of you". She adjusted her grip on him, easily lifting his weight, and then started to lead him towards the exit.

"Report" came the demand over the radio, answered by one of the two soldiers with Seras.

"Situation is under control. Target was taken down by a Vatican paladin. One casualty. Coming out now."

As she helped him towards the exit, Seras couldn't help but take in the rich scent of Harry's blood, leaking slowly from his rapidly healing wound. She gasped as she realized how hungry it made her feel, and fought down a surge of revulsion at the thought of drinking it.

As if he'd read her mind, which he probably had, Alucard spoke up. "Police Girl, you must drink blood to remain strong. That paladin would have taken you easily as you are."

Harry continued for him. "Seras, it's ok and it's perfectly natural for you now. We'll talk about it back at the manor if you need to. OK?" She nodded at him and then shot her master a grateful look. "I understand master." she said before they headed out to the transport.

Later that night Harry, now fully healed, knocked on the door of Seras' chamber. Waiting for a moment before entering cautiously, he found her sitting at the small table, staring at the blood bag in its bowl in front of her. Sighing, he walked into the room and made enough noise for her to note his presence. She looked guilty at first and then sheepishly apologised. "Sorry, I just can't bring myself to drink it. I know I should but it just seems wrong."

Harry nodded, and sat down next to her, pushing the bowl away. "You were turned so quickly, you had no time to prepare, to come to grips with what it would mean. Retaining these feelings doesn't make you weak, but your body needs this. It's not helped by the fact that it isn't how your body expects to feed. I know this must be difficult for you but your master is right. If you don't drink you will quickly weaken and I think you've seen that there are some opponents out there for whom you must be prepared."

"Like Anderson?" she said quietly.

He understood the subtext of her question. "Yes, like Anderson. He's not the only one. You've been lucky so far, your targets have been new, young vampires, created artificially not turned by an old vampire like Alucard. A real vampire would be a whole different challenge for you and I want you to be able to face such challenges and win. As for Anderson, he's special. Alucard thinks he's less than human and in some ways he's right. I don't know what Iscariot did to him, but he's able to regenerate pretty much any physical damage, although I think I almost had him with the wound he left with. Decapitation would probably work, or removing his heart entirely maybe."

He reached across to her, and laid his hand on the table in front of her, palm up. "Seras, I know you're having trouble adjusting and I would like to help if you'll let me. Will you let me?"

She looked into his eyes and nodded, whispering quietly "Yes."

He gestured at his open palm with his other hand, and a thin cut immediately opened in it, blood slowly seeping out and pooling in his cupped palm. Seras gasped as the smell instantly hit her, and her eyes flickered red and then back to blue, snapping down to his hand and then back up to his eyes.

"H-Harry." she whispered, almost pleadingly.

In response, he lifted his hand towards her face, looking compassionately at her. "It's up to you. Not even Alucard has had this, although he'd probably like to. I won't force you though."

She turned her face down towards his hand and subconsciously licked her lips. She stuck out her tongue and slowly, hesitatingly, lowered her mouth to his hand. As her tongue touched the blood in his palm she let out a guttural moan, tasting the metallic sweetness, and almost immediately her nervousness vanished as she lowered her lips to his hand. As she drank, his blood sang to her. After a minute however he silently closed the cut.

She quickly drank the blood he had let for her, and then looked up into his eyes again, her own now flecked with red. He tilted his head toward the blood bag and looked questioningly at her. Her gaze followed his and she hesitantly grabbed the bag, ripping a small hole in the top and testing it. She noted that it didn't taste as good as his, it was somehow duller, less alive. There was something else missing that had been in his blood, and she wondered briefly if it was his magic..

Harry looked on with a mixture of sadness and pride. It was sad, he thought, that she had in some ways been made less than human, but he was proud of her for being able to start to accept her new life. It wasn't much, but if she could still find any happiness then she would always have a chance of retaining some of her humanity, and that was enough. He ruthlessly quashed the part of him that had intensely enjoyed the sensation of her tongue and lips on his skin.

Standing slowly, he watched her finish off the bag and waited until her attention had returned to him. "There's plenty, we always have to keep a fair bit in stock for Alucard, and if you're ever in dire need come to me. Are you OK?"

She nodded, the voice in the back of her mind telling her that what she had done was wrong had been silenced by the more instinctual need to feed. It was still there but subdued, resigned somehow. Dimly she realized that it was a part of her that still hadn't let go of her old life, and she was grateful for the reminder, but it could only ever be a small part of her now.

"Thank you" was all she said as she turned from the table and walked towards her bed. "I'll see you tomorrow Harry".

He nodded, not saying anything, and turned to walk back to her door. As he was about to shut the door behind him he took one last look into the room and saw her laying down on her bed, still dressed, her ankles crossed and her hands behind her head. He appreciated her figure for a moment before closing the door quietly and returning to his own rooms.

Before Seras closed her eyes to sleep, she heard a voice. Whether in her head or actually present, she didn't know, but it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.

"Well done, Police Girl".

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who has followed or made a favorite of this story, and especially to those who have submitted reviews. I really appreciate the feedback and I'm trying to address any points you have. One of these is a comment that the chapters have been fairly short (around 1500 words). This was definitely true for the first two chapters and the prologue, which was even shorter. Mainly this matches the pacing of the anime, which starts out pretty slowly, and my story layout of trying to make each chapter a discrete episode.

This chapter is quite a bit longer however, and the next chapter will be about the same. After that it'll start getting much longer, chapter 5 is around 4500 words since it covers what I had originally planned to be chapters 5 and 6. That does mean that my update rate will drop sharply as I've got to write, review, and organize more per chapter, but I will still be aiming for at least a chapter a week, probably more.

Anyway, this chapter had the first complex interaction between Harry and Seras, and I hope I got the tone right. It might seem odd that Harry would go so far to help her but then he's a bit of a white knight in that respect, and if he'd die to save someone I don't see him having a problem with giving a little blood to a vampire he quite likes anyway.

I hope you all enjoyed the introduction of Anderson. I know I've robbed Alucard of his bit of showing off but I felt that it was a good opportunity to establish a few things about Harry. Yes, he's bloody hard to kill, but that doesn't make him better than everyone else. In a straight fight Anderson beat him solidly, and got hoisted on his own petard when Harry got back up.

Apologies for the long A/N. Please read and review and let me know what you think of this chapter.


	5. Chapter 4 - Valentines Day

Disclaimer: I neither hold nor claim any rights to either Harry Potter or Hellsing. Credit for both goes to their respective authors. This is a work of fan fiction only.

Chapter 4 - Valentines Day

"It's definitely artificial then"

"We knew that already. They really don't have anything in comparison with a real vampire except the need to drink blood. But they think more like a human. Like Alucard says, a monster doesn't have any ulterior motives, that's a human trait."

"Do we have any information on who's behind it?"

"No. We really need to capture one alive so that we can interrogate it. I have a few ways I can get that information but I need a living subject. Think we can do it?"

"It's possible. I'll have to be rather firm with Alucard, he's a blunt tool. I've informed the Round Table conference and they're meeting here in two days to discuss it. Anything we can work up before then would be useful."

Harry obeyed the unspoken dismissal and left Integra Hellsing's office. He'd spent the last week working intel on the artificial vampires, occasionally cursing the lack of a dedicated scientific team in Hellsing. He had reports from other organisations tasked with extracting information from the so-called "freak chip", and they all ran into a dead-end. The exact functioning was unknown. Harry strongly suspected that the chip on its own was not the whole story, but it was all they had to go on for now.

After the debacle with Anderson, he'd also been working with Walter to develop some new weapons for the Hellsing operatives. While none of the human soldiers could hope to match Anderson in close combat, he was determined to give them weapons that might at least buy them time to escape. For Alucard, Seras and himself he was determined to develop weapons which could kill the paladin outright if necessary.

This had culminated in an amusing scene in the basement, when Walter had presented Alucard with his new pistol, the 13mm Jackal. It was a truly monstrous handgun, utterly unusable by any normal human, but Alucard seemed pleased. Seras had gushed over the size of her master's new weapon until Walter had lugged in the case containing her new Harkonnen cannon. Harry had thought it was excessive until he saw Seras actually holding the weapon, at which point he openly declared Walter a genius and took a mental snapshot of one of the most erotic sights he'd ever seen, not that he'd told Seras about that of course.

He'd spent a little time working on a new weapon for himself, and was pleased with the result of his labours. His original modifications to the G36C were fairly restrained, eliminating recoil and conjuring ammunition for a limitless supply. After the incident with Anderson he'd experimented and created something which the other soldiers at Hellsing all considered excessive, and was thus ideal. A complex rune array around the muzzle modified the mass and velocity of the round as it exited, increasing the mass by a factor of 10 and doubling the velocity. This had the effect of increasing the kinetic energy of the projectile by around forty times. Using hollow point ammunition the results were enough to have Alucard almost rolling on the floor with laughter, and left the other viewers of the test firing picking their jaws up off the ground.

Firing armor piercing ammunition, it was able to put a hole through the 25mm armor plate which served as the backdrop for the testing range.

Combined with the eliminated recoil and near infinite ammo, he was the proud owner of one of the most overpowered weapons ever developed, and he loved it, understanding fully Seras' near infatuation with her own 30mm cannon.

Two days of fruitless research later, he'd had nothing further to report to Integra, and was now seated in the security room of the manor, watching the cycling of the CCTV feeds watching the grounds. The members of the Round Table had arrived that afternoon and, after the typical afternoon tea, had set up in the conference room on the third floor.

"Control, this is the gate. We have some tourists down here. Going to tell them to sod off now."

Harry flicked the camera feed to the CCTV mounted on the gate and zoomed in on the tourist bus in question. It struck him as odd that the windows were blacked out just as they opened, each window being replaced by at least one rifle barrel. He hit the alarm at the same time as they fired, and klaxons immediately rang out throughout the manor. He picked up the P.A microphone and calmly keyed it on.

"Attention all personnel. The gate has just been assaulted by an armed enemy force numbering at least fifty. Two probable vampires leading the hostiles." He paused as he watched the CCTV feed and swore at what he was seeing. "Enemy force appears to consist of ghouls in above platoon strength, armed with automatic rifles and riot shields."

The phone rang, and he picked it up. "Yes ma'am?"

"What the hell is going on down there Harry?"

"Ma'am, two men approached the gate, probably vampires, who claimed to be hosting a tour. The gate rang it in and was going to tell them to get lost when the entire bus sprouted rifles. We have two definite casualties, probably both dead, and an enemy force between platoon and company strength with two vampires inside the grounds. I recommend evacuating the conference..." he was interrupted by a thunderous explosion. "Scratch that, that was probably the helicopter. I recommend sealing the room and waiting it out. We should be able to handle this."

"Have Alucard hunt down the vampires. I want you, Seras and Walter taking down those ghouls before they kill too many of my men. Understood?"

"Understood ma'am." the phone clicked off.

Returning to the P.A Harry continued. "All personnel assume defensive positions behind barricades. Armour Piercing ammunition on the ghouls."

Picking up the phone and dialling Seras' room, he waited for an answer.

"Seras, are Walter and Alucard with you down there?" he heard the first gunfire of the battle from the ground floor.

"Yes we're all here."

"Good. Alucard, Integra wants you to hunt down the two vampires in charge. Please try to take one of them alive or at least get some information out of them before you kill them. Seras, Walter, we're on ghoul duty. I need you two to start from the ground floor and work up. I'll work down from here. Keep them off the third floor and try to save as many of our men as possible. I'll see you soon."

Handing over to a Hellsing soldier in the control room, he picked up his weapons and headed for the door. "I'll seal you in. The room is sealed against fire and smoke and I'll lock the door behind me. I need you to keep control of the battle and keep us informed of the enemy's progress."

Exiting the room, and sealing the door with locking and unbreakable charms, he headed down the corridor towards the main staircase. The security room was on the second floor, and he guessed that the enemy were probably on the ground and first floors by now.

Edging up to the staircase, he looked down and almost got his head shot off for his troubles. Cursing, he noted that the ghouls were actually approaching the second floor and had one of the vampires with them.

Taking a deep breath, he launched himself across the top of the staircase, aiming down the stairs and unleashing a hail of devastating fire on the ghouls.

Jan Valentine stopped as the sound of the gunfire reached him. Confident that his ghouls would have survived a single shooter, he raised his hand and jauntily indicated where he wanted them to fire. When nothing happened, he almost dropped his cigarette as he looked behind him to see the utter devastation that Harry's gun had caused. The ghouls weren't just dead, most of them were little more than a red smear on the staircase. There was a veritable river of blood running down the stairs and the riot shields showed how ineffective they had been, holes several inches wide punched clean through them.

Looking back up the stairs, Jan had barely enough time to spot the weapon pointing right at him before it fired. He moved just in time, the bullet plucking off the lobe of his right ear, along with the earring in it. He dodged left and right, trying to avoid the obviously lethal gunfire, and attempted to make his way up the stairs at the same time.

As the alarm on his watch went off, he smirked, confident that he'd be getting a nice batch of previously Hellsing reinforcements any second.

The group of ghouls that made its way towards him however was not as large as he'd expected. Either Hellsing had far fewer soldiers than he'd been told, or they managed to hide away somehow. Either way he was going to use them as a distraction to get past this pesky guard.

It was not to be however. As he gestured for his ghouls to attack, a loud single shot echoed through the staircase, and the motley band of ghouls were destroyed as the Harkonnen's 30mm high explosive incendiary round detonated in their midst. Blood spurted briefly, adding to the veritable river dripping from each step.

Harry grinned down the stairs at Seras, who was looking pleased with herself, and then at the vampire. "You're finished. Drop the weapon."

Jan looked up at him and snarled "I don't think so". And stared right into Harry's eyes. That was exactly what Harry had been waiting for, and a subvocal "Legilimens" had Harry inside the vampire's mind immediately, tearing it apart as he viciously searched for the information he wanted. He saw Jan and his "brother" being turned into vampires, as he expected the chip was merely a monitoring device. As he dug deeper he got more of what he wanted. A fat man in white wearing glasses. A surgeon with the most ridiculous glasses he'd ever seen, and behind them both an instantly recognisable swastika. As he attempted to dig deeper into this organisation's goals however, he was detected. He felt a surge of anger and was ejected from the vampire's mind as Jan Valentine burst into bright blue flames.

"Well now, that was interesting." He commented as Seras and Walter ascended the stairs to join him. "We need to report to Integra. Alucard is probably dealing with the other vampire. How many did we lose downstairs?"

"About ten definitely, not including the two on the gate. Quite a few wounded but most of them should be fine. We'll be down on mission manpower until they've recovered though." Walter replied.

Nodding, Harry led the way up the stairs and headed to the conference room, contacting Integra over the radio.

"Ma'am. The incursion has been dealt with. We need to run clean-up but I took down one vampire and Alucard probably has the other. We lost approximately twelve men total, but we have a lot of casualties. I'm en route to you now."

Ten minutes later, after debriefing the conference, Harry was led out of the room by Integra. She stopped just outside the door and leaned against the wall, lighting a cigar and looking thoughtful.

"Millennium. The last battalion. So, they survived." Integra mused after Harry had told her what he had seen in the mind of Jan Valentine. "I'll see what the others in the conference have to add to that. Well done Harry, I don't want to think about how many men I could have been burying if you hadn't taken control and gotten everyone moving so quickly, and the modifications to our weapons probably saved lives as well. Take the rest of the evening off."

Harry nodded, smiling slightly. "Yes ma'am. I'm just glad it turned out as well as it did." And with that, he turned and exited the room, moments before Integra's phone buzzed.

Picking it up, she answered "Yes? Who? They what?!" rising to a snarl by the end of the exchange. Slamming the receiver down she hissed, "Damn them."

After visiting the wounded, and paying his respects to the dead, Harry hunted down Seras, finding her in her chamber, finishing off a blood bag. He smiled at the sight of her willingly drinking and joined her at the table.

"Bad night" he said after a minute's silence.

She nodded, looking troubled. "What's wrong?" he asked. She looked up and met his eyes.

"I killed tonight, with my bare hands."

Harry stood up as she trailed off, and offered her his hand. She stood and took it. "This will feel a little weird" he said before apparating the two of them to a spot on the roof he had found weeks earlier.

Sitting down on the slope of the roof he set his feet on the edge of the board which was there for builders working on the roof. He patted a patch of clean tile next to him, and she sat, looking up at the brightly shining moon. Summoning her courage, she started to speak.

"Walter and I got pinned on the ground floor. There were so many ghouls, and they overran us. I thought I could handle myself and I let them get too close. But they were all around me, trying to grab me, pulling at me, and I fell over."

Harry watched her closely as she spoke, her voice numb and toneless, her eyes fixed on the moon. It was both the most beautiful and yet the saddest sight he had ever seen.

"One of them was right there, on top of me, trying to bite me, and, I don't know what happened. Something inside me just snapped, and everything seemed to turn red. I just got up and started tearing them apart, not going for the heart or the head like you said, I wanted them to hurt, to feel pain. And I don't know what's happening to me and what I've become."

He reached over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as her voice started to shake, and she leaned against him.

He spoke slowly, calmly and confidently. "Seras. You are still you, still the same person you once were, apart from this one thing. What you just described, it's what I would have expected if you had refused to drink. It's fine aiming for heart and head when you have time to take the shot, but when you're overrun like that, you do what you have to do to survive. That's what sets you apart from them, your will to live and survive and fight."

She looked up at him, and he went on. "What happened here was horrible, and a lot of people will be having nightmares about it. It's one thing to go out on a mission, but when your home is threatened everything changes. I promise you that in the same situation I, or any other member of Hellsing, would have done whatever we had to do to survive. You just have abilities that we lack, and those abilities helped you to survive. Don't be ashamed of it, don't fear it, it's a part of you and as long as you control it, it can never control you."

They sat there together in the moonlight, both thinking about what they had seen and done that day. Both wondering what more they would have to do to survive.

Author's Note: Hi all, well that's the first engagement with a real vampire, even if Jan Valentine is a bit of a punk. I didn't put in the sequence between his brother and Alucard as I felt that the way it ran in the anime was excellent, and I'm not really going to be churning out an exact copy of the anime in text form.

Also the first chapter where Harry really shows a softer side, although there were hints of that in the previous one. I kept the sequence with Seras losing control as I think it's important to her development, and the balancing of her humanity and vampire traits is one of the areas I'm exploring in this fic.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'm ahead by one chapter now, and it's the first double chapter so it'll be almost twice as long as this one and will include appearances from everyone's favorite Frenchman, and a card sharp. Let me know if you enjoyed this chapter and if there's anything you think I'm missing.


	6. Chapter 5 - A Wild Goose Chase

Disclaimer: I neither hold nor claim any rights to either Harry Potter or Hellsing. Credit for both goes to their respective authors. This is a work of fan fiction only.

Chapter 5 - A Wild Goose Chase

The view in the national gallery was probably amusing to a casual observer. A young woman dressed in a suit with long blonde hair stood examining a large painting. Her companions were three men, all imposing yet utterly different. The shortest of the two, a broad shouldered man of around five feet 8 inches in height was wearing a dark blue trench coat, and stood in a relaxed pose, looking a little bored as he looked around. Her other companion was a giant of a man, well over six feet tall, wearing a blood red coat and a wide brimmed red fedora, his eyes hidden by yellow glasses. His posture was upright and proud, a wolf amongst sheep. Her final companion could only be described as a butler. His dress and mannerisms shouted his position and he hovered attentively by the woman's side.

"Where are they." Integra fumed quietly. It was bad enough that the Vatican wanted her to meet a representative to hand over some information pertaining to Millennium, but to then have the gall to be late as well was simply unconscionable.

As she spoke, her attention was further down the section of the gallery they were in, coming to rest on a thin, arrogant looking man dressed in a white shirt and dark waistcoat. He was walking slowly towards them, his long white hair drawn back into a tight ponytail. At his side was a more pleasant looking older man, dressed in a suit typical of priests and clerics.

"Oh dear. It appears we are late, and our host does not look pleased" the arrogant one drawled to his companion, he merely nodded and remained silent. Despite his words, his eyes were filled with glee as he spoke, bowing low as he did. "My most sincere apologies. I am Enrico Maxwell."

"Cut the crap!" Integra barked. "I know who you are, head of the Vatican's section thirteen, Iscariot. Now hand over whatever information you have and get out. How you can bear to show your face after sending Anderson out here to attempt to murder my men" she was cut off however.

"Silence, protestant whore!" barked the man. "Iscariot has been hunting monsters for two thousand years. I would gladly raze this country to the ground, kill every single protestant pig, and spit on your remains. You upstart swine deserve nothing less."

There was a moment's silence, before Alucard responded slowly. "You call my master a whore." He drew the Jackal and aimed it at Maxwell. "I should kill you where you stand for your insult."

Maxwell smirked evilly in response. "So uncivilized. Very well. Anderson!" He shouted the last, and everyone's attention was captured by the sudden wind that seemed to whip up as the paladin emerged from around a corner, stalking forward and drawing two long bayonets as he approached. Alucard grinned in response and started heading towards the paladin, his left hand reaching into his coat and pulling out the Cassull, leveling both pistols at Anderson. The potential for violence was obvious and unrestrained.

"What? No! Anderson!" called Maxwell, his facade crumbling as he realized that he had gone too far. "This isn't what…" but it was no use, the two tall men advanced on each other with murderous intent. Anderson's hand swung back, and Alucard's trigger finger tightened.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen! Right this way for the tour! That's right, just this way please. Follow me."

The tension in the air evaporated like smoke in a gale as Seras led a large group of tourists between Alucard and Anderson. Seras gave her master a look, although she was sweating slightly at being between him and his enemy.

As the crowd of tourists dispersed, Alucard holstered his pistols, and Anderson returned his bayonets to the inside of his coat. The two eyed each other for a moment, a battle of wills taking place in a glance, before Anderson snorted derisively. "This is a poor place for a fight." He started to turn away and made eye contact with Harry. "I'll be back, and I'll deal with your little band of misfits."

Harry merely smirked at him, drawing a grunt from the paladin as he turned and walked back the way he had come, passing close by Maxwell, who looked suddenly relieved, and rather sheepish at his mistake.

"Yes. Anyway, I believe that this place has a rather nice cafe. Perhaps we could continue our discussion there." he temporized, trying to regain his composure.

Integra smirked and gestured in the direction of the cafe. As she walked away with him, Walter and Maxwell's assistant both breathed a sigh of relief, and Harry surreptitiously high-fived Seras. Alucard vanished now that the fun was over, and the four followed their leaders and set themselves down in the cafe at a table out of earshot of Integra and Maxwell. Unknown to them, they were all six being observed from a table in a dark corner of the cafe.

"They know" said one of the occupants of that table to the other in a tight German accent.

"My dear doctor, they know nothing!" responded the other in a thick rolling accent of his own. "But I like this. This is truly amusing. This war will truly be the war to end all wars, the grosse kampf."

Two days later four Hellsing personnel were on a chartered flight crossing the Atlantic, heading toward Rio. Alucard sat back in a plush leather armchair, a glass of wine held delicately in his long fingered hand, sipping occasionally and watching the other occupants with a twinkle of mirth in his eyes.

The other three travelers, consisting of Seras, Harry, and Pip Bernadotte - a mercenary recently hired by Hellsing - were attempting to play poker around one of the small tables. Seras proved to be a fairly poor player, unused to the practice of lying without giving any outward sign. Pip, by comparison, was an expert, and would have been winning outright were it not for the third player. Harry was cheating outrageously, bluffing with well practiced ease, which was throwing Pip off his game. Added to that Harry was using passive legilimency to hint to Seras when Pip was bluffing, allowing the Draculina to win the occasional hand against the far more experienced player.

"OK, that's enough" cried Pip, throwing his cards into the air. "I don't know how you're doing it but I know you're cheating somehow." He glared good naturedly at Harry, who chuckled and tapped a finger to his head knowingly.

"Pah!" Pip threw his hands up theatrically and stood. "I'm going to go check on the pilot. At least he won't lie to me, well hopefully anyway."

As he walked forward, Harry and Seras shared a look and both laughed. Pip has settled into Hellsing well, surprisingly so for a human with no background knowledge dropped into a den of the supernatural.

-Flashback-

Pip Bernadotte stood with his men, the Wild Geese, in one of the larger drawing rooms of the Hellsing manor. They had recently escaped a job gone bad and were glad of the break, although they might have preferred Paris to London. All they knew was that they were being hired by an organisation tasked with internal security for the UK, but which wasn't one of the security or police services. Pip had his reservations but the pay offered was substantial, and the soldiers here seemed to know their business so at least he wouldn't be playing nursemaid to a bunch of amateurs. The facilities were also pretty decent, meaning he and his men could use this as an opportunity to get some real training in that didn't involve an active war zone.

The door opened, and Pip looked up, watching the master, or mistress, 'Whatever', enter. Integra Hellsing certainly carried herself like a commander, and he could make out the bulge of a shoulder holster under her well tailored jacket. She stepped clear of the door and closed it behind her. "Welcome to the Hellsing manor gentlemen" she said smoothly, her voice like barbed wire made of silk. "I suppose you're wondering what I've hired you for".

"Something like that" replied Pip, nodding but not saluting, he'd be damned if he'd salute a civilian until they'd proven worthy of it.

"Well gentlemen. You're here to fight monsters." There was silence for a long moment, before one or two of his men started to laugh. Pip tried to gauge her seriousness and couldn't tell whether she was lying or not. She was amused though, that much he could tell.

"Oh yes. Monsters are very real gentlemen. Vampires, werewolves, ghouls, things that go bump in the night. Hellsing exists to hunt down and destroy these monsters, and you will be doing the same. And now", she said with a broad flourish to one side of the room, "I present to you a real, live vampire".

Every man looked in the direction she was gesturing, and saw a young girl, no more than 25 years old, standing at the side of the room looking sheepish. The short, tight police uniform she was wearing only made the scene more surreal, as she certainly didn't seem to fit in with the soldiers present, or even with Integra.

Seras waved slightly. "Uh, hello!" she said brightly, smiling.

Pip laughed and walked towards her. "This, a vampire? Surely this is a joke Miss Hellsing."

Integra smirked, and addressed Seras. "It looks like you're going to have to prove to him that you are a vampire, Seras."

The young woman nodded, smiling again, and raised a finger in a flicking motion, casually flicking Pip on the forehead. He stumbled backward as it felt like a sledgehammer had hit him, blood leaking from the gash she had opened in his forehead. He was about to back up when she blurred, and reappeared in front of him, flicking him again and sending him careening back into his men. "She's not human!" he exclaimed. "She's some kind of monster!"

At that moment, the wall by the door blurred, and Alucard stepped through the wall, shortly followed by Walter through the door.

"These are the men who will guard me while I sleep? I am hardly impressed, my master." Alucard drawled.

"I'm terribly sorry ma'am" Walter cut in. "You know how hard it is to stop him doing something he wants to".

Integra waved Walter off, and glared at Alucard. Walking over to Pip she knelt down next to him and looked him in the eyes. "Monsters, Mister Bernadotte. If you're still up for this report to the firing range, one of my men will issue you your new weapons there." With that she turned and left the room, as did Alucard and Seras, Walter remaining behind to show the mercenaries either to the range, or the gate.

After ten minutes of discussion, during which the monumental amount of money they were being paid was raised several times, they agreed to stay, and were led to the shooting range where they were introduced to a young man in a long blue coat, who was examining a new G36C carbine. After shaking hands and introducing himself to Pip, Harry handed him the carbine and gestured to one of the firing stations.

"Your men won't need their current weapons, everything you need will be provided. If you have any requests after you've tried this let me know, but I promise you that anything you're carrying now won't come close to what that can do."

Pip scoffed, certain that the boy didn't have a clue what he was talking about, and raised the weapon to his shoulder, set to semi automatic, aiming at the target and preparing for the typical recoil from the 5.56 round he knew was chambered. Taking a breath he centered the optical sight and pulled the trigger.

Several seconds later, he slowly lowered the weapon, and turned to face a smirking Harry. "What the hell?" he demanded.

Harry laughed. "You can see now why the back wall is so reinforced yes? When I first modified one of those it put a hole through 25mm of steel plate. The one you're holding is nowhere near as powerful, because we don't want people getting hit by a round from the other side of a wall. Like I said, you won't need your current weapons. Have a go on automatic, just keep firing." he said, grinning.

Pip shrugged, and turned back to the target, raising the weapon once again, this time on fully automatic. He pulled and held the trigger.

And waited.

After what must have been several hundred rounds, he let go of the trigger and looked down at the weapon. Turning back to Harry he grinned a wolfish grin of his own and held out his hand.

-End Flashback-

Returning from the cockpit after half an hour, Pip looked at the other occupants of the aircraft. "We'll be landing in half an hour."

Harry looked up from the book he'd been reading. "Everyone know the plan?"

Receiving nods from Seras and Pip, and a grunt from Alucard, he closed his book and slid it into a pocket of his travelling bag. "Once we're on the ground I'll clear out of here and get straight to the hotel. Pip, keep an eye on the news, if anything happens it'll happen tonight."

Half an hour later a tall gentleman in a suit walked into the Hotel Rio and approached the check in desk.

"Hello sir, how may I be of assistance?" asked the concierge.

"Good afternoon. I have a reservation for Mister Smith. Would it be possible to have a room near to the ground floor? I have a bit of a problem with heights." replied the gentleman.

"Of course sir" responded the concierge. "Here we are, room 203. It's on the second floor. Let me summon a porter to help you with your luggage sir." He gestured at an obvious porter in a corner of the lobby, who immediately moved up and picked up the gentleman's suitcase and overnight bag. The gentleman nodded his thanks to the concierge and followed the porter to the elevator, which took him up to the second floor.

Settled into his room, and having tipped the porter, Harry dropped his glamour and opened his bag, reaching into the expandable pocket and pulling out a small selection of devices. Most notable among them were a small radio interception kit and a very advanced little device from military intelligence designed to hack into secure radio channels, exactly the type he expected to find in use here. Powering up the equipment he put on a headset and started scanning the available frequencies until he found what he was listening for.

"They've just landed. Confirm three passengers, two male one female. No large baggage. They're through customs and heading for the Hotel Rio now." came a voice with what Harry assumed was the local accent. The next voice however carried overtones that made Harry's ears twitch.

"Well done commissioner. You are well on your way to achieving immortality. Let them settle in to the hotel and keep an eye on them for now."

Picking up one of the other devices he had brought, a satellite phone, Harry keyed in a code and waited for his call to be routed through to Hellsing.

"Report" came the clipped tones of Integra Hellsing.

"They know we're here. I'm set up as planned and so far I appear to have avoided notice. Not sure how long that will last but I'll take what I can get. I expect it to happen tonight, Millennium will want their fireworks and there's no point sitting on their arses for a day when the ball is in their court."

In her office, Integra raised an eyebrow and nodded to her butler. "Very well. Keep me informed and let me know as soon as anything happens."

"Yes ma'am". The phone disconnected and Harry set the handset down on the table next to his other equipment.

Laying down on the reasonably comfortable bed, Harry bent his knees and leaned the radio interceptor against his leg, listening in on the chatter between the various people who would probably all die tonight.

He opened his eyes from his contemplation when he felt Alucard and Seras enter the hotel. He could probably have a fair chance of sensing the Millennium agent at this point, but opening his mind to the presence of everyone in the hotel and the surrounding heavily urbanized area would involve a headache of monumental proportions, so he decided against it. He listened in as the local police or whoever they were prepared an armed team, and sat up when that team was ordered into the hotel.

Picking up his phone and dialing, all the while dismantling the rest of his equipment, he said two words.

"It's begun".

He dimly heard the sounds of the hotel being evacuated, and as someone knocked on his door he was already stood, his glamour reapplied. Opening the door he looked confusedly at the porter outside. "Yes? Is anything wrong?"

"I'm terribly sorry sir" the porter replied, "but we're having some problems with the hotel fire alarm and we need to evacuate everyone temporarily while we get it checked out. We apologize for the inconvenience and if you wish we can arrange for you to stay at another hotel."

Harry smiled at him, "No no, not at all. I hadn't actually unpacked yet, is it OK if I bring my overnight bag with me?" The suitcase was empty and clean, so he had no problems leaving that behind."

The porter waved him out and directed him down the corridor to a stairwell, which he descended quickly, surrounded by other guests. Emerging in the lobby, he inwardly smirked as he saw the platoon of heavily armed police standing by the elevators. 'Fire alarm problem huh' he thought. He followed the other guests out of the door and made his way quickly across the square. A minute passed and he located his target. Stealthily approaching the uniformed and armed figure he walked right up alongside them and held up a lighter. "Pleasant evening isn't it, officer."

The police officer looked over at him and grunted. "You got that right. When's it kicking off?"

Harry winked at him. "Patience Pip, it'll all be starting soon and then we can go do our part. Alucard gets to have the fun this time. Do you have everything?"

Pip nodded and touched his hand to the pouch strapped to his waist. He then drew a pistol with his right hand and screwed a suppressor onto the barrel before checking that it was loaded and safe. "You've done your magic with the pistol right?"

"With yours and mine. Can't do a thing with Alucard's since his ammunition is unique anyway, and Seras doesn't really need it." Harry replied.

Chuckling, Pip nodded. "That girl loves that gun. It terrified me the first time I saw it." Looking sidelong at Harry he teased "She sure does look good holding it though eh." His grin widened when he saw Harry tense briefly, unable to control the response. "Aha!" he exclaimed playfully. "I knew it! The boys thought you were sweet on old lady Hellsing but I told them, ol' Pip sees everything, that you like your women with more bite than bark."

"Pip." Harry growled out, "If you ever say a word about that to her I will tell Hellsing that you just called her an old lady."

Holding up his hands in surrender, Pip laughed. "Whoa there boy. I know when I'm beat. Old Pip'll keep his mouth shut and his eyes open." All traces of mirth vanished instantly the second the window of the penthouse exploded outward and the unmistakable sound of gunfire rang out from the hotel, the rattle of the automatic weapons punctuated by the much louder thudding cracks of the Jackal.

Harry looked Pip in the eye. "Time for old Pip and old Harry to go earn their pay. Remember I need the one in charge alive, but only for a minute." and he waved his hand across his body, altering his glamour to match the masked police officers, pulling his G36C out of the extended pocket of his coat. His overnight bag was long since shrunken and hidden away, and for all intents and purposes he and Pip looked like just two more armed police heading in the direction of their own tents.

Upstairs, Seras watched in a mixture of awe and fear as Alucard decimated the team that had been sent to kill them in their room. She could feel the blood lust coming off him and wondered if this was what Harry had been telling her about that night on the roof.

Alucard stalked towards the last officer, who was cowering by the door, and was about to rip him to pieces when Seras interrupted. "Master."

His eyes flashed to hers, and she instinctively cowered back, clutching the Harkonnen to her chest reflexively. His eyes bored into hers and he spoke angrily. "These things are less than human, taking their orders from a monster, not even understanding why they are sent to die. They are dogs, and I will slaughter each and every one, and spread their remains for all to see. This is what it means to be a vampire police girl. The sooner you accept that the easier it will be for you."

Turning away from the lone survivor, he walked over to the desk and picked up the phone, dialing direct to Hellsing.

Integra answered the phone, knowing already who was calling. "Yes?"

"My master. I have decimated their front line, the reinforcements await. What are your orders?"

"What did you do to those men?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Evil chuckling carried down the line. "I vanquished them, ripped them apart, drank their blood, as I will do to all who stand in my way. I am your weapon, my guns are loaded, safeties off, rounds chambered. All I await is the order to fire."

Integra hesitated for only a moment before responding, rising to her feet and slamming her hand down onto the desktop as she did so. "They are our enemies and the allies of our enemies. Show no quarter, hunt them down, search and destroy. Do you hear me vampire, search and destroy!"

The line clicked and went dead, and she looked at Walter. "Have I done the right thing?" Her only answer was silence.

Alucard turned away from the desk, his face filled with glee and malevolence. "Excellent. Excellent!" He looked at Seras. "Stay here and cower, or come out and fight. Do as you will." Turning back toward the door, he looked at the one surviving soldier, and stalked towards him. The police officer whimpered and screamed at him "You're a monster!"

Alucard laughed, and replied. "Yes, I am a monster, and only a man can kill a monster. Are you a man, or a dog?"

The man slowly raised his pistol, looking like he was going to shoot at Alucard, only to turn it on himself at the last minute. As his brains and blood spattered up the wall behind him Alucard's fire seemed to dim somewhat, as if he was disappointed.

"A dog, it would appear."

Regaining his composure, he opened the double doors and stepped out into the corridor, and all Seras heard was gunfire and screams as she stood there, looking at the corpse of a once brave man, who had died without even knowing why.

Straightening, she took a tight grip of her cannon, and glanced out of the doorway down the corridor, which was littered with the dead and dying. Walking slowly down it, and drawing her pistol, she shot every one of them in the head, now realizing what Harry had talked about at the shooting range on her first day. Looking at the elevator doors, she noted that it was on its way down, and was nearly at the ground floor already. Shrugging and forcing the doors open, she swung out and grabbed the cable, before starting to climb quickly upward. 'I won't kill humans, but I'll definitely take a shot at a monster' she thought to herself as she worked her way upwards.

Harry and Pip were approaching the police tents when the front of the hotel was darkened by an immense shadow, and the bodies of several police officers sailed out into the square , landing impaled on the flag poles around the front of the hotel. Pip looked sick and Harry merely noted that Alucard was obviously feeling nostalgic.

They watched as Alucard was confronted by a tall Hispanic looking man in a brown suit and a wide brimmed fedora. The two exchanged a few taunts before Alucard took a shot at the man, who dodged and flung what looked like a playing card at Alucard, which exploded as it hit the ground near him.

"Remind me not to play poker with that guy" Pip quipped, "He cheats worse than you mon ami."

The two of them continued with their part of the mission as Alucard and his opponent traded increasingly vicious attacks before heading up the side of the hotel towards the roof. They walked casually up to the headquarters tent where Harry waited outside while Pip walked in and gunned down all of the occupants except the man in charge. Harry immediately followed and interrogated him with legilimency while Pip set C4 charges on the communications equipment.

Walking out after a minute they strolled away, not even pausing as the tent exploded behind them. Harry looked up towards the hotel roof which was billowing smoke, and his eyes narrowed as he heard the distinctive low thump of the Harkonnen firing, amidst the sharper reports of the Jackal and the dull explosions of the playing cards their opponent was using.

"Get a chopper and meet me up there Pip. I'll go see what they're doing." He said, before disillusioning himself and apparating to the roof.

Looking around, he realized immediately that Alucard was having fun, as he was only partially corporeal at that point. Seras was prone and firing at the brown suited man as fast as she could, and he in return was dodging whilst trying to hit Alucard with his cards.

He called out "Playtime's over old man." before firing an overpowered body bind at the enemy, who wasn't quick enough to dodge the spell and froze in place. "Huh, I guess that does work on vampires. Well, get to it Alucard" he continued.

The ancient vampire emerged from a cloud of smoke behind his opponent, and smirked as he gripped his head and tilted it to one side, sinking his fangs into the vampire's neck.

Immediately he saw a memory, doubtless implanted there specifically for that moment. He saw a man he recognized, a fat man in a white nazi uniform, 'The Major' he thought. Lined up before him he saw what could only be other artificial vampires much like the one he had just defeated.

Releasing the vampire as its body started to burn, he turned to Harry and Seras. "We're done here." he said as they turned towards the helicopter which had just risen above the height of the roof, Pip waving at them from the pilot's seat. They hopped on board and Pip leaned forward on the controls, the helicopter dipping by the nose and accelerating fast as it dropped down the side of the hotel before banking away and vanishing into the night. As Harry sat in the back, Seras next to him holding her cannon to her chest, the sat phone in Harry's pocket buzzed. Extracting and answering it he listened for a moment before hanging up.

"Her Majesty has called a meeting. Pip, get us to the airport".

An hour later they were back on board the chartered flight which had brought them to Rio, headed back to the land of fog. This time there was no poker, and Harry noticed that Seras was shooting Alucard with occasional glances showing hints of fear, disgust, and even disappointment. Rising to his feet, Harry walked past her and tapped her on the shoulder as he headed to the small compartment at the rear of the passenger section.

After she joined him he cast a silencing spell around them and motioned for her to sit on one of the fold-down chairs, sitting on the other one himself. "Want to tell me what Alucard has done that has you in this mood?" he asked bluntly.

She glared at him for a moment before her gaze softened and she replied. "In the hotel, when it all started, he just tore through those men. They weren't even vampires, just police officers doing a job. I used to be one of them, and the fact that he so casually tore them apart just makes me wonder whose side I'm on. What's worse is that he didn't even have to do it, I'm positive he could have simply avoided them and taken on that vampire without killing anyone else."

Harry nodded, understanding her dilemma. "OK. To start with, your last point was right, he could have ignored them, but that's now how he works, and he'll be the first to admit it, and I'm sure that Integra probably had a hand in it. She wanted to make a statement, and those men were the unfortunate pawns that got caught in the middle."

He sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Truth is I hate what we have to do. Life is a precious gift, you appreciate that more than most I think given what's happened to you. But as far as Alucard, and Integra, the round table, and the Queen are concerned, we're at war, and in war good people die before their time. Those men were police officers, but they were also unknowingly soldiers caught up in a war they didn't even know existed until it landed in their laps. That's the only way I can rationalize the people I've killed, and I've tried hard to avoid killing any humans myself. You did the right thing I think. You couldn't have stopped Alucard from doing things his way, but you did your part your way, and for what it's worth I'm glad you chose to be merciful."

Seras sat silently, thinking about what he had said, and decided that he was right. She remembered his words to her shortly after she'd been turned, about being defined by her choices, and wondered what he'd chosen to do in his life.

Looking up, she realized that he had left while she was contemplating, and rose to follow him back to her seat, looking at his face as he sat in his seat, already dozing.

Author's Note: Well this is actually as far as I've written so far (longer chapters seem to take so much more effort to write, it's weird). I hope you enjoy this chapter. Writing the events around the hotel from multiple simultaneous points of view was actually really fun, and Pip allows so much room for man-to-man dialogue with Harry that I'm glad I left him in, as it was 50/50 as to whether I would or not.

The end is a bit "meh" perhaps, not entirely sure I'm happy with it but I wanted to show Seras coming to terms with killing people who she sees as innocent, and possibly even comrades since she herself was once a police officer. It seems right to me that she should have something of a moral crisis over it, and rationalizing the killing as an act of war is probably how Harry got over all the killing he's had to do, so it made sense for him to tell her the same.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy this longer chapter, let me know what you think. The next chapter will be a few days at the least since I need to actually write it, rather than just review a ready written piece. It will however cover the conference with the Queen, and probably the opening salvoes of the war.

Final note, I had a review mentioning the lack of off-adventure character development in this story and I'd like to address that briefly. In the anime very little occurs outside of the main storyline, primarily because as vampires Seras and Alucard really can't or won't do much. I've followed that approach in this story and my reasoning is simple. Harry, despite being human, arrived in the world with no money or history, and is a powerful immortal. Add to that his natural tendency to seek trouble and leap in head first and I don't see him having much of a life outside work when there is a 70 year old organisation of nazi vampires threatening the country. I'd love to do some true character development and I almost certainly will in another story (see my profile for a summary of other ideas I have, some of which are partially written and I could post prologues for at the least).


	7. Intermission - Q&A 1

Hi readers. First of all, apologies that this isn't an actual chapter, but I promise I'm working on the next chapter. I just want to take the chance to respond to some of the reviews and put some explanatory notes up as to why I have or haven't taken the story in certain directions.

So without further ado, I will put in a short Q&A based on some of the reviews I've had (no actual quotes, I'm paraphrasing review comments into questions.

Q: Harry doesn't seem to be using much magic in this fic, that seems odd as he's the only wizard around!

A: Dead right. I thought I'd put a note in an early chapter regarding Harry's use of magic (so far only three spells and a lot of abuse of his nifty unspeakable coat. My reasoning behind this is simple. Harry's fighting mainly two different types of enemy, vampires and ghouls. Vampires are generally faster and tougher than a human and thus a lot of regular combat spells aren't actually that useful against them. Banishers, Reductors and so on will have an effect but nowhere near as much as against a human, and Stupefying them is a lot more difficult. Add to this that vampires are close range combat masters, due to their superhuman strength and speed. Thus, Harry is tending to keep them at arm's length using firearms, which have a far greater effective range than spellwork. Ghouls on the other hand are still tougher than a human but don't tend to dodge. However, they usually attack en masse and there aren't that many spells that are particularly effective against massed enemies, those which are include the darker cutting curses (Sectumsempra, which Harry has used), explosive curses (Confringo, Bombarda), and fire curses (Incendio and on the really dark scale Fiendfire). Using those curses a lot however is extremely taxing on a wizard, even one of Harry's power, over a long period of time. So again he uses weapons, but overpowers them to make them far more effective than usual.

Q: Will we ever see Harry use magic, or is he just a super soldier?

A: I promise you will see Harry using some pretty extreme quantities of magic in upcoming chapters, since the scale and severity of action becomes orders of magnitude greater. Up to now his guns and sword have generally been enough and he's resisted overtaxing himself since there are no mediwitches or healers to help him if he gets himself into trouble.

Q: Why didn't Harry just AK (Avada Kedavra) Anderson?

A: This raises a point which I intend to apply throughout to all dark spells. Spells like the unforgivables, Fiendfire, and to a lesser extend darker versions of standard curses (Sectumsempra for example) are pretty nasty for the user as well as the victim. Remember that in order to use an unforgivable you have to mean it (Bellatrix to Harry, Order of the Phoenix). Harry is well aware, having used them, of how using dark spells twists the user, and in some cases can become addictive or overwhelm the user entirely (Fiendfire). The darker spells are useful, yes, but the price is extremely high, and Harry works side by side with a monster who epitomizes what an addicted dark magic user can become (Alucard), which will if anything turn him off from using them even more. I would direct anyone interested in the moral aspects of dark magic to "Summer of Change" in which Harry expresses his fear of using the unforgivables, and realizes that the love of a good woman can pull you back from the abyss. Harry doesn't have that (yet).

Q: Why didn't Harry cut off Anderson's head, rather than stabbing him, if he thought decapitation was effective?

A: A goof on Harry's part (intentionally on mine I assure you). Having just been stabbed, Harry was a bit pissed and went for the revenge blow, rather than the sensible one. Stabbing Anderson in essentially the same way was a more human thing to do I think. He attempted to fix his error by deliberately widening the wound but Anderson is simply too good a regenerator for that to work on its own.

Q: What does Harry do in his downtime?

A: Not much. He's immortal, he's spent about twenty years working for an organisation which actively prevents colleagues from knowing each other socially, and he's been more or less a hermit due to the press and the threat of challengers. He's used to spending his time in a very solitary manner, and having willingly sided with an organisation which can be called on 24/7 he's tending to stick close in case he's needed. He's also spent a lot of time improving weapons and training himself, which has kept him busy.

As I said in my last A/N, I'd like to do some real character development but the Harry in this story has already done a lot of his. Maybe in another fic I'll look more into it.

Q: How is Harry's presence going to change things, if at all?

A: A lot, in the long run. Not going into detail, Harry will be an active combatant throughout the invasion of London by Millennium and Iscariot. He is after all the master of death, and there's going to be a LOT of death going around. The repercussions of that on Harry should become evident.

That's all for now. Again, apologies for this not being a real chapter, and I'll have the next chapter up soon. In the meantime feel free to review and send me questions and I'll do my best to answer them. I'd like to thank all of the reviewers who inspired the questions above. I definitely appreciate the reviews and I'm glad you are enjoying the story enough to submit them! I promise lots more magic! Harry in the future, along with more Serry fluff (well, spiky red fluff anyway).


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